Second Narik War
The Second Narik War (also known as the Third Campaign to Darnussians) was the second major war and third overall conflict of the Narik Wars, between the Narikatonite Empire and the anti-Imperial forces of Darnussia. It was also the last total-war in Darnussian history, featuring huge troop manoeuvres, complete diversion of resources and genocidal losses. It broke out after the peace that existed in Darnussia (known as the Imperial Artanian Territory, IAT) between 3155 and 3178. Estimates suggest the war resulted in approximately 2 million deaths. The war started in 3178, when riots broke out over the killing of a schoolchild by Imperial Police. These escalated into open warfare mainly between the PRA and the Imperial Colonial Corps. This fighting resulted in the Imperial Army being brought over back to the IAT for the first time since 3150. The violence spiralled out-of-control until by early 3179, the entire country was once again up in arms. The Darnussians captured many towns throughout the opening weeks, including much of the impoverished city of Red Stad. Soon, the generally guerilla fighting turned into more conventional warfare, as the Imperial Army struggled to fight the sheer numbers of Darnussians who had risen up in revolt. By 3184, half the mainland was back in Darnussian control. Within 3186, a stalemate developed, with both sides yet again unable to break it. This stalemate took its toll on the Imperial forces, who lost nearly 75,000 soldiers through the Darnussians highly effective use of attrition warfare. The stalemate was broken in 3192 with massive Darnussian attacks, which almost resulted in the complete collapse of the Imperial military. However, in October 3192, the Imperial Government, now facing the prospect of complete military defeat on the battlefield, as well as economic collapse and popular revolt at home, dissolved the Imperial Artanian Territory, and withdrew from the mainland, resulting in Darnussian independence. The details of much of the war are sketchy, and there is very little primary evidence. This was due to numerous reasons, mainly the Imperial governments strict ban on any journalists entering the warzone. Darnussia were unable to put together any real evidence, and furthermore, with no other international forces directly involved, much of the world simply didn't care. As a result of this, casualty figures for the Darnussians are very difficult to estimate, but high estimates put Darnussian dead at 2.5 million. The end of the war brought an independent Darnussia, ruled by a provisional government. Background Beginnings 3178 - 3182 Opening weeks On the morning of 2 March 3178, 12-year-old Theresa Weise was shot dead in the ghetto's of Red Stad, IAT by Imperial Police. By noon, around 500 protesters had gathered around the area she was shot. When Police attempted to disperse these protests, it turned violent. By 3 PM, around 5,000 people had joined in the rioting, as is spread all over Red Stad. At 6:30PM, the first Police death was recorded, after being shot by an off-duty KFA volunteer in the midsts of the rioting. This prompted a massive armed response by the Police, who attacked the rioters, who were met by armed militiamen. By the next morning 20 people had been killed. By now, the riots had spread throughout the city, and such ferocity had not been seen since the riots of 3150. Soon, it was reported that rioting had spread to other towns, namely Thule, Kalvograd, Malvern, Humel and Lenz. By now, the heavily-armed paramilitary groups are begun to distribute weapons at best the rate they could. They knew this was the moment they had been waiting for, and they wasted no time in taking full advantage of it. By the fourth, fierce fighting had driven the Imperial forces out of much of these areas, to much jubilation. On the 5 March, the PRA, who had already begun receiving masses of eager volunteers, announced to the world that they were beginning their Third Campaign (the other two being the First Narik War and the Dirty War) to free Darnussia, and asked for people to take up arms. And they did. The central Darnussian mainland was up in complete armed rebellion within less than a week, forcing emergency sessions of the Imperial Defence Committee and the Imperial Colonial Commitee, who at once advised Imperial Chancellor Octavius de Augustin (INM) force through an emergency bill to send the Imperial Army (IA) to the mainland to quell the revolt. On the 15, the Imperial Expeditionary Force landed in the IAT, and was almost as once engaged in combat. They came under fierce opposition from KFA units who were defending the beachead. However, soon a mass seaborne and airborne landing had the IA out in force. An entire division was sent directly to Red Stad to help protect the Imperial city of White Stad, capital of the IAT. IA units crushed the rioting in Ghacrow and Doressa brutally, before securing the west of Alkavon and the south of Kozaria. Pushes by the IA between 5 - 10 March resulted in a lot of land being put back into Imperial hands. However, by now, full-scale warfare had gripped the IAT, as a state of panic swept through Imperial ranks as they realised how serious the situation was. Unless the IA could gain a foothold within the next few days, the IAT would be completely lost. The IA reached Red Stad on 10 March, and began to attempt to take back the city and relieve the besieged White Stad. In the West, a separate landing occurred, and Ghacrow was secured along with all towns west of the River Krähe. Fighting in Doressa had also been put down by the 15. The eerily familiar frontlines began to take shape once more, strikingly resembling those of the First War. However, the Imperial Army could not allow that to happen, and the Battle of Red Stad commenced on 10 March. Battle of Red Stad Red Stad in 3178 consisted of the small walled city of White Stad in the centre, surrounded by the gutted, impoverished urban jungle that was the ghettos of old Red Stad, most of which had been heavily damaged in the first war and not repaired. The Imperial Army consisting of one infantry division, entered the city at dawn on 10 March with the specific intention of completely capturing it. They knew Red Stad was the nucleus, and if it was destroyed, the rest of the revolt would soon follow. The IA encountered surprisingly fierce resistance by the armed militias, particularly the PRA who were armed with heavy-grade, military weaponry. The infantry was backed up by helicopters, which were immediately shot down as soon as they attempted to enter the city. Battleships that had sailed up the Red River to begin the relief effort of White Stad also came under heavy fire from the banks. The first division was eventually backed up the a second, armoured division at dusk on the first day. Fighting continued through the night, and as dawn broke, more Darnussians arrived from further afield, who had heard about the fighting, and had wanted to join in. There was no consistency to the battle, and no frontlines. Gangs of infantry generally went from house to house killing each other, while Imperial tanks and tanks hijacked by the Darnussians battled it out on the streets. This type of bloody urban guerilla warfare went on for a further 2 days, until the Darnussians completely held the centre. They then began the bloody push outwards towards the suburbs. By the 14, the city was almost completely liberated. It was announced on 20 March 3178, that the entire city was in the control of the Darnussians. White Stad was now under siege, and being supplied by Imperial ships along the Red River. The loss of Red Stad was disastrous for the Imperial military, who were humiliated in defeat to a bunch of rag-tag Republicans. All the Imperial weaponry and fire-power couldn't defeat the sheer determination of the Darnussians, who were only armed with small-arms and had no training. At first, the Imperial command considered sending an even bigger force to try and re-capture the city, but it was dismissed as being too risky. As a result, it was decided that the war effort would be concentrated along trying to prevent any further breakout from the central rebellion, as well as crushing any further revolts that might occur throughout the mainland. Further movements As 3178 dragged on, the Darnussians decided that defence was the best offence. Major complex trench systems were built south of Red Stad, and defences were created to withstand any Imperial attack. In August, the Darnussians launched a major attack north, capturing masses of ground. The large town of Lenz was captured on 15 August in a brief but bloody battle. This occurred at the same time as a mass mutiny by the Imperial Colonial Corps, who defected to the Darnussians. This brought in 90,000 trained men, and military-grade weaponry and armour. As well as these defectors, many captured ICC troops also chose to join the Darnussian ranks. These gains of men and equipment greatly helped the Darnussian cause, however not as much as the constant rebellions and revolts occurring throughout the country. The Imperial Military were having tremendous difficulty trying to defeat armed uprisings that were happening all the time in Imperial-occupied areas. The KFA in particular went around distributing weapons and instigating revolt, thus drawing Imperial troops away from the frontline to try and defeat them. Ghacrow and Doressa were particularly violent, despite both being hundreds of miles from the frontline. An uprising in Malvern, Ghacrow in late 3179 resulted in around 7,000 deaths after it was finally and brutally put down by the Imperial Army. Similar revolts occurred in smaller towns throughout the IAT, causing serious problems for the Narikatonites. The central rebellion continued to expand northwards, with the Darnussians capturing much of the flatlands east of the River Krähe. By 3180, they had expanded right up to the Luthori border. Also, attempts were made to capture Ghacrow, but Imperial defences were too strong for the Darnussians to break through. A major uprising in Sarbo was crushed in July 3181. By the end of 3181, all advances had slowed down practically to a halt, and a stalemate was beginning to develop, something both sides were desperate to avoid. As a result, major Imperial attacks were launched in November in an effort to prevent this, but they failed with massive losses. The Darnussians continued to gain the upper hand, but needed one more push to get going. Then, in March 3182, they got it. Darnussian gains 3182 - 3186 The Southern Revolt :Main article: Southern Revolt The Souther Revolt broke out after coordinated attacks on Imperial barracks by Darnussians armed with KFA-supplied weaponry on 14 March 3182. 4,000 Narikatonites were estimated to have died in these attacks, as throughout the next few weeks, the entire population of the south of Kozaria rose up in rebellion. This forced the Imperial command to divert even more troops away from the frontline to try and subdue it; however, unlike all the previous times, this time the revolt could not be crushed. By the time any major Narikatonite response could be arranged, there were simply too many armed Darnussians on the streets. The first Imperial instinct was to protect Doressa from Darnussian attacks, or indeed a Darnussian revolt in the city itself. Narikatonite attempts were made to stem the revolution in the south, but the more troops pumped into the area, the less were on the frontline dealing with the central rebels. Eventually, Imperial command decided the safest thing to do was to place the main focus on the central rebels. This proved to be a grave mistake, as within two weeks of the initial uprising in the south, half the Cerrot River was in Darnussian hands. When the Imperial government was realised all was lost in the south, they decided the best option was to prevent the link up of the two main rebellions, as well as prevent the capturing of the Red River by Darnussian forces. As a result, Imperial forces were moved from the North in Alkavon, south into Kozaria, however by 1 April 3182, most of the south was in Darnussian hands, with the Imperials now holding off Darnussian attacks on Doressa. It was the Southern Revolt that proved particularly bloody for the Imperial forces, who lost a massive 45,000 dead trying to stem the rebellion. However, what was to prove worse occurred a year later at the Red River. Capture of the Red River :Main article: Capture of the Red River The Red River is the central artery of mainland Darnussia, and it divides the country in two. Darnussian historians now generally agree that it is a highly vital position to hold during a war on the mainland. The Darnussian Alliance held it for years during the First Narik War before finally being overcome. The Imperial government had spent the last 2 years in particular trying to prevent the Darnussian rebels from completely capturing the river by building a series of complex defences around it. However, the Darnussian leadership decided to risk all and throw all resources into capturing the river. Throughout May, June and July 3184, the Darnussians manoeuvred as many possible troops into the area, and on 1 August, the attack began. Tidal waves of Darnussian infantry plunged into battle, forcing the overwhelmed Imperials to retreat. The PRA headed the attack, with WRAD and KFA battalions following. The assault was bloody. All along the front, the Darnussians lost 9,000 in a day. Despite the losses, it was generally seen as a success, and throughout August the Darnussians continued to hit at the Imperial lines. The first Darnussian brigades reached the Red River around the 27-28 August, and very soon after the Imperial defences collapsed. The Red River fell into Darnussian hands after a month of bitter fighting, and 75,000 dead. Darnussian success here, led Darnussian leaders to realise that victory lay in the hands of overwhelming numbers in concentrated areas of the front, combined with extremely bloody guerilla actions from behind. This led the Darnussians into planning another major battle of the war: the Great Push. The Great Push Like the Battle of Yales in the first war, the Great Push was the bloodbath of this generation of young fighters. The Darnussians great plan was to occur in mid-3185, as part of a growing trend for annual major operations. First, the Darnussians would attack in the north, pushing most resources to that area and shunting forward. Then, in a sensational show of mobility, were to swing south and push into central Kozaria, all the while supported by extensive guerilla operations. Stalemate 3186 - 3192 Battle of Kalvograd War of attrition Creation of the Provisional Government Imperial defeat 3192 - 3193 Capture of Ghacrow and Doressa Imperial withdrawal Battle of White Stad :Main article: Battle of White Stad Aftermath Category:Darnussia Category:Wars, civil wars and conflicts Category:Narik Wars